Osmotic dehydration is a widely accepted pre-treatment method of partial removal of water, by submersing fruits in sugar/salt solution. The goal of this work was to optimize the process parameters during osmotic dehydration of ginger slices to develop a product called “ginger candy” having medicinal properties. The ginger slices were first osmotically pre-treated and then convectively dried at constant air temperature of 60 °C for achieving a safe moisture level of 12% (wet basis). The Box- Behnken Design (BBD) in Response surface methodology (RSM) was used to investigate the effect of sugar concentration (40-60 °Bx), solution temperature (40-50 °C) and immersion time (30-60 min) on the water loss, sugar gain, overall acceptability and water activity. The optimized conditions of 51.88 oBx sugar concentrations, 40 oC temperature and immersion time of 30 min removed about 28.53 % of water with a minimum sugar gain of 4.75%, 0.33 water activity and overall acceptability of 70.62 % for ginger slices. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the process variable, such as temperature and concentration, have remarkable effect on responses. For the proposed model, the comparison of the empirical model with experimental results was evaluated using correlation coefficient (R2) which was found to be 0.994, 0.995, 0.992 and 0.972 for water loss, sugar gain, water activity and overall acceptability, respectively.

The study has measured the level of livelihood status of the peoples in Gujarat at region as well as district level. Using Prem Narayan’s methodology an integrated livelihood status index have been prepared by the optimum combination of five different sub-indices of Agricultural Status, Infrastructure Status, Health and Sanitation Status, Economic Status and Food Availability Status in respective regions and districts. The findings reveal that there exists wide regional disparity in Gujarat. The region of Kutchh has shown low value for most of the sub-indices including the integrated livelihood status index. Seven districts namely Bhavnagar, Panchmahal, Dahod, Surat, Banaskantha, Patan and Kutchh accounting for about 34 per cent of the total population of the state were found low developed in livelihood status. It was also found that these low developed districts account for most of the tribal population of the state, which is nearly 47 per cent. Composite indices of infrastructure and economic sectors were found highly associated with livelihood status index. For bringing about uniform regional development, model districts have been identified for low developed districts. It also explores different poor performed indicators in low developed districts that require improvement for enhancing the level of development of respective district.

Climate variability has been considered as one of the most serious long-term challenges faced by the dairy farmers this study examines how dairy farmers Karnataka state perceive climate variability. This was done with 120 samples which were purposively selected from the study area, for analysis, perception scale was used with modification, Reliability and validity was checked before conducting the study, finally the scale is of fourteen statements, (nine positive and five negative) and the response for each statements was rated over a five point continuum and weighted mean rank was assigned, among fourteen statements there are changes in environmental temperature ranks first with a weighted mean score 93.83; There is change in timing of precipitation (80.17) ranks second and as follows. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to identify the latent constructs in the perception of farmers towards climate variability. After completing the exploratory factor analysis to estimate the factorial validity, the reliability was assessed through Cronbach alpha.

At present, abiotic stresses is emerging as the problem of great concern for the agriculture ecosystem. Under abiotic stresses plants greatly affected at molecular, physiological and biochemical level. Moreover, stay green phenotypes have the capability to maintain longer green leaf area and also helps in triggering the production of osmoprotectants such as proline etc. in stressed environment, which directly results in good yield. Present research was conducted to observe proline accumulation in wheat varieties after treatment with Ethyl Methanesulphonate (EMS) of three concentrations (0.5%, 1.0% and 1.5%) for 90 minutes. The proline content was observed at booting and maturity stage. At booting stage, proline content was varied from 1.45 µmol/gfw in K 7410 to 1.05 µmol/gfw in variety HD 2177 in control plants. Variety K 7410 showed highest proline content ranges from 1.45 to 1.75 µmol/gfw after the three treatments of EMS. At maturity stage, the proline content varied from 1.05 to 2.12 µmol/gfw in control plants, 1.04 to 2.25 µmol/gfw after treatment one(0.5%), 1.00 to 2.36 µmol/gfw after treatment second(1%) and 1.00 to 2.65 µmol/gfw after treatment third(1.5%) of EMS. Whereas, variety HD 2177 and K 68 shows significant decreased level of proline content after three treatments. On the whole, these ten wheat varieties showed decreased level of proline after three treatments of EMS except K 7410 at both the stages. Such results indicates that treatment of EMS help in developing such wheat varieties which may perform better under abiotic stress conditions such as drought, salt etc.

The influence of weather on agriculture is essential to plan the activities like sowing, irrigation and plant protection etc. Based on the weather forecast given by RMC, IMD, Chennai, location specific agro-advisory for chillies were formulated and communicated to farmers of Vavidamaruthur and Aylankudi of Madurai districtin the form of Agro Meteorological Advisory Bulletins. The feedback data were collected from the AAS and NON-AAS farmers on utilization of weather forecast elements during the crop season and finally the economic impact was analyzed. The ratio score (%), H.K score and RMSE values proved that the predicted rainfall forecast was higher on day 4 for both the identified villages. Through reduced input cost viz., reducing the cost of irrigation and the cost of plant protection, the AAS farmers received an increased net profit of 8.9 % at Vavidamaruthur and 7.3 % at Aylankudi, when compared to the NON-AAS farmers.

The paper attempts to make a situation analysis of hybrid rice seed production in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh states of India from the perspectives of hybrid rice seed producers by employing the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) method. Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance (w) was used to test the rank of factors associated with SWOT. The coefficients of concordance for SWOT were 0.6. This indicates that there is agreement among the seed producers about the factors that influence SWOT of hybrid rice seed production in the study area. The results revealed that, income stability, price certainty and timely supply of inputs and technical advices were the major strengths in hybrid rice seed production. The major weaknesses were a lower price being offered by the companies to the seed producers, lack of legal safe guard mechanism and drudgery in additional operations like rouging and supplementary pollination. Availability of quality seed and cooperative farming, which leads to improvement in standard of living, was perceived as the opportunities in hybrid rice seed production. The threats to hybrid rice seed production were perceived as dependence of seed producers for inputs and technical advices on the companies and monocropping. From results of the present study, it is suggested that there is a need to evolve legal safeguard mechanism to avoid breach of contract between producers and seed companies.

The soil and leaf samples were collected from four mango orchards of Ratnagiri district at five serial stages namely, after harvest of the fruits of previous season, after application of fertilizers, pre-flowering, full flowering and marble stage of fruit for two successive years for the present study. The soil and leaf samples were analyzed for iron, manganese, copper and zinc. The results showed ‘low’ status of available iron, zinc in soil at Dapoli and Pangari locations and deficiency of total Fe content in leaf at all locations which needs to be corrected by additional application of them. In general, all the nutrients of soil and leaf were found to be higher at both the Kelshi locations than Dapoli and Pangari locations during both the years.To improve nutrient status of soil and leaf and to enhance the yield at Dapoli and Pangari locations, it is essential to supply higher quantities of micronutrients through soil and leaf.Further, positive and significant correlations of nutrient content of soil and leaf with yield implied them as a measure of forthcoming yield. From these findings, it can be concluded that for enhancing the yield, it is necessary to maintain optimum nutrient contents in soil and leaf.

This study was conducted in Haringtonganj block of Faizabad district of Uttar Pradesh to know the training gap of mustard growing farmers during the agricultural year 2013-14. A sample of one hundred farmers was selected randomly from the list of 5 purposively selected villages for collection of primary data. A well structured and pretested interview schedule was used for data collection through personal interview .The findings indicate that the most preferred size of training group as expressed by the maximum respondents (35%) was 11-20. The data exposed that most of the respondents did not possess required knowledge concerning to the mustard production technology, especially plant protection measures, application and use of manures and fertilizers, field preparation etc., So, there is an urgent need to enhance the good communication and extension system and input service system to make the farmers aware about latest innovations.

World spends considerable time and money each year in combating weed problems and protecting ecosystems. Invasive weeds are among the most serious threats to Indian's natural environment and production of rice by producing large numbers of seeds, assisting their spread and are often excellent ability to surviving and reproducing in disturbed environments. As a result a field experiment was carried out during kharif seasons of 2009 and 2010 at CRC of SVPUA&T, Meerut in a RBD with 3 replications by using F test. Experimental results revealed that 50 hills m-2 proved superior over 20 hills m-2 in respect of suppressing weed density and weed dry weight along with enhancing average plant height, yield attributes viz., number of filled and unfilled grain and grain weight panicle-1and biological yields (81.9 q ha-1) and nitrogen (0.83 %), phosphorus (0.35 %) and potassium contents (0.85%) in weeds followed by hills 40, 30 and 20 m-2. As far as weed management practices is concern, both chemical and mechanical methods of weed control were found superior over weedy check. The lowest weed density, dry weight and highest weed control efficiency, while maximum yield contributing traits, biological yield (83.4 q ha-1), production efficiency (27.9 kg ha-1) and economic efficiency (300.4 Rs. ha1) was recorded with two hand weedings which was on par with Butachlor @ 1.0 Kg ha-1fb one hand weeding over rest of the weed management practices.

The degree of association between yield, quality and the characters that contribute to the direct and indirect effects on grain yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.) was analyzed. Fourteen lines and testers and 48 hybrids (F1s) were evaluated for identifying their efficiency with respect to 14 yield and quality traits. Association analysis studies indicated that grain yield per plant had positive significant correlation with panicles per plant; grains per panicle and the quality attribute alkali spreading value. A positive and association of grains per panicle with head rice recovery and milling percentage was also observed. Path coefficient analysis revealed that direct selection for panicles per plant, grains per panicle and grain weight would likely be effective for increasing grain yield. Direct selection for grains per panicle would increase head rice recovery percentage whereas increase in the grain length and grain weight would result in higher grain yield per plant along with head rice recovery percentage.